


read the words you love so much

by lostinthefire



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fandom AU, Gen, I have No Excuse, M/M, this got meta fast
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-26
Updated: 2013-11-26
Packaged: 2018-01-02 17:16:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1059473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostinthefire/pseuds/lostinthefire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cecil and Dana are a podfic team that have gotten a pretty big following.  Carlos is known for writing meta and has gained Cecil's attention.  Together the three of them form Night Vale, a popular blog on the internet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	read the words you love so much

**Author's Note:**

> Betaed by Morgan who I can blame for this entirely. This is what we came up with instead of plotting for NaNo late last month.

He read the words over and over again, memorizing them, knowing them inside and out. He would be able to recite the whole piece by the end of the day, but now he was simply taking it in chunks, learning the sentences, feeling the weight of the words against his lips. He would memorize the lines, like an actor performing a play, and he would know each story down to the last period. It may not have been how everyone worked, but it was what he always did, what was most effective for him.

Cecil would record in the morning; that was the best time for him to do anything fannish. Afternoons meant work, evenings meant reading and theater rehearsals. He didn't mind; he liked getting up to see the sun rise, starting his day with a cup of coffee and scanning over AO3 to see if there was anything interesting up.

His phone pinged -- he had email. His phone pinged -- he had email. He considered leaving it for tomorrow; it was late, and he was starting to lose awareness. Curiosity got the better of him, though.

It was Dana checking on him, making sure he was still alive and still working on their newest project. She was always doing that, checking on him, seeing if he needed anything. They had never met in real life, but she was one of his closest friends nonetheless. Sometimes he would fall into spells of thinking that he would go unnoticed, that he would fade into the airwaves, and she was the one who pulled him out of it every time. She reminded him that he was good at what he did and that, even if he did fade, there would be at least one person who missed him.

He smiled as he shot her a quick email back, letting her know that he was all right, that he would be recording tomorrow morning and that he’d got almost all of it down, asking how she was. He checked on her, too -- made sure she was doing well and that her school wasn't stressing her out too much. She was younger than he was, still in school and working on a degree in audio production, which happened to make her one of the best betas he could ever ask for. 

One more quick read through the story and then he settled into closing things up for the night. He would record in the morning, let it sit after that, and do a once-over the next day, fixing what he could before sending it off to Dana and letting her work her magic. 

Cecil closed the computer and found his way through the darkness into bed. It was a good night. Hell, it was a good life.

~~

The next few days were a blur of work, rehearsals, and recordings. He had to clean up more than he initially thought; Dana didn't get his cut until a few days after he said he would give it to her. The timing didn't matter, though; there was no challenge, it was just for fun.

When the weekend rolled around and all Cecil had were Saturday rehearsals, he finally got some time to nest in the internet again. He wasn't expecting to find anything too interesting, although he had thought that maybe he would come across something new to record. That was what got him on the meta tags. He didn't often record meta, but every now and then he would find something good and do it for himself and Dana. 

Then he realized Carlos had posted something.

He only knew Carlos in passing. They’d never interacted before and while he saw his name come up in fandom, he never said anything to him personally. He had recorded a few of his posts before though, even putting them up. Carlos had been one of the people who was good enough to put up a blanket statement in favor of recording and Cecil took advantage of that.

Dana was on Skype. He went to get her attention immediately, starting as soon as she accepted the call. “He put something up.”

“What? Oh, yeah, I saw that. He put it up yesterday.”

“And you didn't tell me? How could you?”

She shrugged. “You've been running around all week, Cecil. I didn't think you had the time right now.”

She had a point. He sighed. “Fine. But you could have given me the heads up anyway.” 

“Isn't it more fun to find out on your own?” Dana grinned at him, and he had to admit she was right. 

“I haven’t read it yet. Is it good? It’s probably good, isn't it? He’s amazing. He’s brilliant. I--”

“Cecil,” Dana cut in. “Let me stop you here. I haven’t had coffee in a few hours, and I am not prepared for another ‘Carlos is the best thing ever’ rant. Let me get a Coke first.”he

By the time she got back, he was done reading, just sitting in his chair with a stupidly giddy expression. “He mentioned me!” 

Dana laughed, popping the tab on her Coke. “Told you that you’d rather see it on your own.”

Cecil spun in his chair, hands clasped together. “He listens! Can you believe he actually listens? I mean, I didn't think he would actually listen, but he does!”

“You’re going to be like this for the next hour, aren't you?” Dana asked, sipping her Coke and looking at him with a fond expression.

“Yes,” Cecil admitted. “Yes, I am.”

~~

Cecil spent the next few days on a high, more than happy to have been mentioned, even if it was in passing. The fact that Carlos was listening to him, even enjoying what he did, left him floating.

Dana was having a good laugh at him, shaking her head and trying to encourage him to reach out and say something, but Cecil still hesitated. Yes, Carlos liked what he did; that didn't mean he wanted to have a conversation, did it? Okay, maybe it did, but he would have to find the right thing to say. He was much better at capturing the feeling in other people’s words than conveying anything with his own. There was a reason he wasn't a writer.

But Dana wouldn't let up and, soon enough, he found himself staring at a comment box, fiddling with words and trying to say something, anything at all, that sounded mildly intelligent.

He had no idea what he was doing, what he wanted to say or anything like that. The first try, he just babbled about how amazing he was, about how wonderful and insightful and full of care his meta was, but it didn't feel right. 

He tried again, and then a few more times, but it all came out a blur of words, babbling on about how amazing Carlos was. After a few goes he got sick of going over his own remarks. He hit send, not because he was content, but because he was tired of obsessing.

And then he waited.

~~

It took two days for Cecil to get a response, but when he did, he was floored. He read the message over and over again, eyes wide and smile wider. He couldn't fathom the ideas that were coming across the screen, and yet -- there they were.

He forwarded Dana the message and then got up, incapable of simply sitting there. He went into the kitchen, made food and coffee and then came back long enough to check if Dana was on. When she wasn't, he retreated into his scripts, burrowing in the pages in hopes of distracting himself from the racing thoughts in his brain.

Finally, Dana was pinging him and he got to his feet, darting to the computer and answering her call.

“Did you see?”

She nodded, grinning as if she knew all along he would have received such a kind message. “Are you going to work with him?”

“Of course! He… he actually wants me to record things for him. There’s not a chance in hell I’m saying no.”

Dana laughed, shaking her head at him. “You’re ridiculous, you know that?”

“I don’t care,” he countered. “I really don’t.”

“It’s probably why he likes you. He can tell you’re a massive dork and he finds it endearing.”

He rolled his eyes at her, and she just beamed. “You know what? I still don’t care. If that’s true, then I’ll go with it.”

~~

Months later, Cecil looked back on the whole thing, on Carlos and Dana and the start of Night Vale. He never knew that things would go so far, that there would be a blog, and a podcast that he would be a part of, and all of it.

He never realized he would fall in love; not just infatuation, but proper love. Nor did he know that they would make such a great team, outside their fannish endeavors as well as within.

He could have never predicted any of it, and yet, here they were. Cecil was still working, still doing theater, but he found almost all of his spare time going to Night Vale. Updating the blog with what’s going on; doing recordings for the podcast that felt like old time radio, with dramas and the news and features on the interesting things that showed up on the blog; and when he wasn't doing that, he was talking to Carlos or Dana. Not about what they were working on, but about other things, about how they were doing, about how life was treating them.

They formed something, the three of them, they made something great out of their passion. It would never make them rich, it wouldn't even pay the bills, but it was what they loved, what they were excited about, and they couldn't have been happier.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me elsewhere:  
> [My DW](http://rootsofthestories.dreamwidth.org) (which I use regularly)  
> [My Tumblr](http://analtarofstars.tumblr.com/) (which I am very rarely on)  
> [My Twitter](http://twitter.com/harvestgraces) (which I am on at random)


End file.
